Midtown Baltimore LLC is putting on the Ritz. Or to be more accurate, Midtown Baltimore is putting up the Ritz-Carlton condominiums. Scheduled for completion in late 2007, the luxury units located in Federal Hill along the Key Highway will provide Charm City with an elite real estate drawing card for white collar employees.
“We thought it was filling a void that Baltimore desperately needed to have filled,” Midtown Baltimore Principal Jack Cayre said. “When we took a look around Baltimore, it was clear over the past few years and decades the harbor and Baltimore turned from what it was, a traditional blue-collar town.”
With condominiums ranging in price from $1.2 million to $5 million, Cayre wouldn?t comment on a number, but acknowledged that more than half of the 192 units are already spoken for.
While not furnished, the apartments will be finished, with many kitchens outfitted in Italian wood veneers and German cabinetry.
“Every time we come here, my wife costs us money,” Cayre said. “She says, ?Why don?t we have this in our house?? ”
And the white-collar owners who these luxuries appeal to will bring their lifestyle with them.
“[The Ritz-Carlton] does improve the tax base and it gives us an edge in the term of coming of age,” said Downtown Partnership of Baltimore Inc. Vice President of Economic Development Bob Aydukovic. “It?s impressive, and it certainly shows that we have a lot of velocity in this market in residential and commercial real estate. I wish we had more like it being done in Baltimore.”
A luxury hotel franchise, the Ritz-Carlton brand has teamed up with Midtown Equity LLC, the parent company of Midtown Baltimore, to create unique condominium developments. The Baltimore location is the first of three developments nationally, with another in the works in New York City.
